Dubai, September 29: Babar Azam, Phil Salt, Tom Banton, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wanindu Hasaranga, Alzarri Joseph, Faf du Plessis and Liam Livingstone head the list for the DP World ILT20 Season 5 Player Auction. It will be held at the ICC Academy Indoors in Dubai on Thursday, October 1.
More than 200 players from 23 countries will go under the hammer. They come from 11 Full Member nations, ILT20 partners Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and ten other Associate Member nations.
The auction starts at 1pm GST (2.30pm IST). It will be streamed live on the ILT20Official YouTube channel, and on Zee5 in India.
Three price slabs
Players have been placed in slabs of USD 80,000, 40,000 and 10,000.
The USD 80,000 group is Babar Azam, Phil Salt, Tom Banton, David Willey, Fakhar Zaman, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Usman Tariq, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Alzarri Joseph, Wanindu Hasaranga, Faf du Plessis, Taskin Ahmed, Alex Hales, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Chris Woakes and Dasun Shanaka.
Many of them played in Season 4. Salt, Livingstone and Hales were with Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, and Banton, Bairstow, Farooqi and Woakes with MI Emirates. Gurbaz and Moeen played for Gulf Giants, Fakhar, Usman Tariq and Naseem for Desert Vipers, Willey and Shanaka for Dubai Capitals, and Taskin for Sharjah Warriorz.
At USD 40,000 are Jayden Seales, Ibrahim Zadran, Shadab Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi, Avishka Fernando, Hassan Nawaz, Shoriful Islam, Maaz Sadaqat, Kusal Perera, Gulbadin Naib, Chris Green, Andre Fletcher and Hunain Shah.
The USD 10,000 slab, where teams are likely to fill out their squads, includes Will Smeed, Lorcan Tucker, Asa Tribe, Shayan Jahangir, Reeza Hendricks, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Ish Sodhi, George Munsey, Matt Potts, Bas de Leede and Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
Gulf players back in the pool
All UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia players start at USD 10,000. Under the Season 5 recruitment rules, none of them could be retained. That puts UAE regulars such as Muhammad Waseem, Junaid Siddique, Haider Ali, Ayan Afzal Khan, Alishan Sharafu and Khuzaima Tanveer back up for bidding.
Each team can use one Right to Match on a UAE player who played for it in Season 4 or in the recent ILT20 Development Tournament.
Purses and squad rules
Every franchise has USD 1.3 million, plus whatever is left from the USD 700,000 set aside for pre-auction signings. MI Emirates have the largest purse at USD 1,390,000, followed by Abu Dhabi Knight Riders on USD 1,365,000. Desert Vipers and Gulf Giants have USD 1,305,000 each. Dubai Capitals and Sharjah Warriorz used their full pre-auction allocation and go in with USD 1.3 million each.
Squads must end with 18 to 23 players. That must include at least 11 from ICC Full Member countries, with at least four from Afghanistan and one from Ireland, plus at least four UAE players, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia and one more from another Associate country.
Teams must spend between USD 1.5 million and USD 2 million. They can sign one Wildcard player after the auction for up to USD 250,000 more.
Replacement players must come from those registered for the auction. Anyone who withdraws on or before October 1 cannot play in Season 5 as a replacement or Wildcard.
Every playing XI must have at least two UAE players and two from Afghanistan, plus one more Associate player. That slot can go to a third UAE player or to any other Associate cricketer, including those from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Who the teams already have
| Team | Purse (USD) | Pre-auction squad |
|---|---|---|
| Abu Dhabi Knight Riders | 1,365,000 | Finn Allen, Jason Holder, Matthew Tromp, Sunil Narine |
| Desert Vipers | 1,305,000 | Andries Gous, Dan Lawrence, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Shimron Hetmyer |
| Dubai Capitals | 1,300,000 | Marcus Stoinis, Mustafizur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Rovman Powell |
| Gulf Giants | 1,305,000 | Azmatullah Omarzai, Blessing Muzarabani, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen |
| MI Emirates | 1,390,000 | Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan, Romario Shepherd, Sherfane Rutherford |
| Sharjah Warriorz | 1,300,000 | Adam Milne, James Vince, Waqar Salamkheil, Sikandar Raza |
Jason Holder played for Abu Dhabi Knight Riders as a Wildcard in Season 4, and Shimron Hetmyer did the same for Desert Vipers. Mujeeb-ur-Rahman moves to the Vipers from Dubai Capitals, while Noor Ahmad goes the other way. Adam Milne returns to Sharjah Warriorz, for whom he played in Season 3.
Season 5 dates
Season 5 runs from Saturday, November 21 to Sunday, December 20, 2026, at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Dubai International Stadium and the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The fixtures will be announced soon.
The purse limits, base prices and bidding rules were set out when the auction date was confirmed.
